“A comprehensive IP protection system has come into shape in China since the 40 years' of reform and opening up, making outstanding achievements to the great undertakings, ”said Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization （WIPO） Francis Gurry who came to Beijing to attend 2018 High-Level Conference on IP for Countries along the Belt and Road and the 9th China Patent Annual Conference. “In recent years, the development of IP in China is quite extraordinary. The number of PCT filings ranked the second in the world, and the rapid growth trend has been maintained. Although the patent law was enacted in China in 1984, it won't effect that China has become the world's largest IP administration in merely 30 years,” Gurry said.

In Gurry's eyes, thanks to the extraordinary support from the state leadership, China has yielded such fruits in IP work. “Chinese President Xi Jinping has emphasized the importance of IP and has made important instructions on many occasions. Xi noted that IP should be regarded as a driven force to innovative and economic development. ”Gurry is also impressed by the improvement of patent quality in some emerging technologies like AI.

It is worth mentioning that Gurry is no stranger in this conference. “This is my second time to participate in this high-level conference. The Belt and Road is a road of innovation, which facilitates the communication and exchanging of IP. WIPO is willing to be able to support in the initiative, and jointly promote the global IP system with other countries by beefing up communication and cooperation,” Gurry added.

Speaking of IP protection in digital sector, Gurry said that the expanding of global digital market brings a lot of challenges to IP protection in music, movie, audiovisual performance, gaming and publication. The emerging technologies, in particular, present new requirements to IP protection. “The globalization makes IP protection face both opportunity and challenge. We should grasp the opportunity to make sure that innovation outcomes have been under well protection, so as to improve the enthusiasm of innovators. In exploring the IP management in digital era, however, we still have a long way to go,” Gurry said.

“China has made outstanding contributions to patent system,” Gurry concluded. “At present, Chinese government has formulated a host of policies to support IP work. Under such circumstance, the outcomes in China's IP work can be shared by other countries in the world. ” （by Li Qian photo by Zeng Jia）

（Editor Li Xingyi）

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